The Toronto Blue Jays wined and dined some 1,200 season ticket holders Tuesday night at Rogers Centre at their annual State of the Franchise event.
In recent years the event – streamed live on sportsnet.ca Tuesday and available to watch in four parts beginning above and continuing below — had become an annual “airing of the grievances.”
But thanks to a dramatic off-season roster overhaul that has the team positioned to contend for a playoff spot, if not a world championship, the mood this year was decidedly different.
Earlier Tuesday Sportsnet announced former Blue Jays pitcher and 1991 World Series MVP Jack Morris has been hired as a baseball analyst on TV and radio broadcasts. Morris will also contribute periodically to sportsnet.ca.
Blue Jays president Paul Beeston, general manager Alex Anthopoulos and manager John Gibbons met with the media prior to the start of the event and you can see what they had to say here:
Video: Beeston | Anthopoulos | Gibbons
Michael Grange teed up the Blue Jays love-in in a pre-event column here, while post-event recaps were provided by both Shi Davidi and Mike Wilner.
And in case you missed it, Sportsnet has also released its spring training schedule, including six games on TV.
SOTF Part II: Jack Morris introduced:
SOTF Part III: Q&A session begins
SOTF Part IV: More Q&A session:
